By George Robbins
As we well know by now, the ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ movie has had its release date changed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and its second wave that hit the United States. Since a majority of films from Hollywood only play internationally after being shown domestically in the United States, many movies have had their dates moved. ‘Tenet‘ is an example of a film that simply won’t be available in the U.S. for awhile and may end up releasing internationally first until the U.S. gets its “stuff” together. Other films just ended up being pushed into some time next year so that studios can determine how well theaters will be doing by then. Studios will not put out their films until they know for sure that all, or most, theaters will be opened and capable of handling new releases.
One of the films that was unfortunately pushed back due to the coronavirus spike was ‘Godzilla vs. Kong.’ Monster movie fans, and more specifically MonsterVerse fans, have been looking forward to the titanic match-up of the century since the film was first announced. Almost immediately after the release of the 2014 iteration of ‘Godzilla,’ there was information that there would be more movies that would be a part of a MonsterVerse. This basically just means that all of these films take place in the same universe and that they might plan on keeping this going for awhile. The culmination of the films done thus far is meant to be ‘Godzilla vs. Kong,’ but that may still be a ways off at this point.
The film had its release date moved from November to May of 2021 in order to make sure that the film has a proper theatrical release. In doing so, they have extended the window in which new information about the movie could end up leaking to the outside world. Most recently, a possible leak ended up happening when the toys that correspond with the new movie were announced. Both the toys themselves and the boxes they come in supposedly leak new unheard-of information about what other monsters we could end up seeing in the movie. Many figured that it wouldn’t just be a fight between just the two monsters as there is really no reason for them to fight unless absolutely necessary. So what other foes could Godzilla, and maybe even Kong, end of facing in the film?
As of now the toy line has supposedly spoiled the fact that Mechagodzilla may be appearing in the film. Another monster is an original one that goes by the name of Nozuki and it is a mysterious serpent-like creature with orange and yellow bat-like wings. Similar to Nozuki is the monster by the name of Warbat which is kind of like a re-texture of Nozuki. The only one left after those other three titans is one by the name of Camazotz which is a large bat-like titan. It is unknown if all of these, and possibly more, will end up being in the movie after all but we can hope because that will make the film very interesting to watch.
By George Robbins
Christopher Nolan is a director who is known for the incredible cinematography seen in a lot of his different films. The thing about Nolan is that, while he thinks up movies that are considered wholly original, he can also make films based on things that are already established and they will turn out great. The ‘Dark Knight‘ trilogy was a set of films that no one expected to be as incredible as it was and they now set a standard for a good set of Batman films. When the first of the three films released, no one knew what it was really about other than it being an origin story for the caped crusader. What we ended up with wasn’t just an origin story, but also a whole film on its own that had woven the two stories together into the climax of the film.
‘Batman Begins‘ was the start of what we now know as ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy that all takes place in the same universe. The title name of said trilogy is also the title of the second film in the trilogy and it just fits together extremely well with the character. In the first film we got to see the villainous Scarecrow who is an old villain in the Batman universe who we had never seen on screen before. Sharing his spotlight as a villain in movie was another character we haven’t seen on the big screen before which is Ra’s al Ghul who trained the Dark Knight in the first place. In the movie, these characters are given sufficient backstory that makes you understand them all a bit more. In the next two films we see the same things happen to other villains such as Two-Face (Harvey Dent), Bain, and Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul.
The aforementioned characters were all given a spotlight in their respective films and they were given sufficient backstory to make people understand their motivations. One villain that was introduced in the second film, ‘The Dark Knight,’ who has actually appeared in a film before was The Joker. He easily stole the show in the film and set up the events of everything that would happen, including the “creation” of the character Two-Face. What sets him apart from other characters in the film is the fact that his backstory that he tells people constantly changes and he appears to have no clear motivation for some endgame result. This is very much in-line with the comic book character as he has never had a reliable backstory for people to fall back on, making him even more mysterious in the eyes of the reader, or viewer in this case.
All throughout ‘The Dark Knight,’ The Joker is just trying to create as much chaos as possible in the city in order to entertain himself. As already stated, The Joker gives multiple characters differing stories about how he ended up being the way that he is, but none of those stories are credible. His backstory is meant to be ambiguous in order to make him more menacing and dangerous, and if he did have a proper backstory, then the portrayal of him in the film just wouldn’t be as strong as it is. Warner Bros., in the form of slight studio interference, wanted to include a backstory for him as revealed by ‘Dark Knight’ co-writer David S. Goyer during Comic-Con @ Home. Warner eventually gave up when the writers pushed out the idea that maybe he doesn’t need to have an origin story. Thus we ended up with what is now considered one of, if not, the best portrayal(s) of the character to grace the big screen.
By George Robbins
The Star Wars franchise has a lot of media and merchandise in its pockets due to the many years that it has developed good faith with consumers. Since the inception of the original ‘Star Wars‘ trilogy there have been generations of fans that have fallen in love with certain aspects of the universe. The Star Wars universe is one that has so much lore involved with it that there is something for almost everyone when it comes to drawing people in to try and get them invested in some way. While the main stories of the franchise are what draw in the most people, there are plenty of people that want nothing more but to read or see things from side stories. Thus, the expanded universe for Star Wars became a thing officially to get more people interested in the franchise.
Other than the main line movies that often draw the most attention, there is also the side stories and the biggest attraction for fans outside of the main movies, the TV shows. The television shows for the Star Wars franchise are highly regarded by the community and they also give some insight into things that many may not have picked up on in the main movies. One such show was ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars‘ which wasn’t really elaborated on in the movies, but it is a very important period of time between the second and third movies of the Prequel Trilogy. It is also regarded as one of the best pieces of content to come out of the franchise as a whole. This showed that some of the best content for the series could actually be from the side stories and not so much the main story.
One of the biggest side projects that succeeded as of late in the Star Wars universe is ‘The Mandalorian‘ which takes place after the end of the original trilogy. It is yet another side story, but it is one that has attracted a lot of attention and is doing fairly well, but not every side story is bound to do as well. Disney planned on releasing side story films in between each of the sequel trilogy movies that told unique stories around popular moments or people in the franchise. The second film they ever made for this purpose, ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story,’ told the history of one of the series’ most famous characters, Han Solo. Other than to sell tickets, the movie was made as a prequel to when Han joined up with Luke and Leia in the original trilogy. It also served as a way for people to learn more about how he ended up the way he is.
Unfortunately, the movie was mostly seen as a failure because it wasn’t really well received at the time of release and it didn’t do so well at the box office. This resulted in Disney scrapping their original plans to make more of these side story films from that point on, which eventually led to the creation of ‘The Mandalorian.’ Since ‘Solo’s’ initial release it has become much more popular with many hoping that they will get to see a continuation of the story from the cliffhanger they put in at the end of the film. Director Ron Howard just recently confirmed that there is absolutely no sequel in the works for the film, so it doesn’t really seem like these hopes will come to fruition. That being said, it seems that there may be more side stories on the horizon, but we will have to wait and see.
By George Robbins
As of late, movie releases are becoming something of an issue due to the newest surge in coronavirus cases and it is affecting the industry as a whole. Movie theaters have been reluctant to open their doors to the general public because they have nothing new to show people so they know they won’t get nearly as many customers as they hope for. This gives a pretty good incentive for them to keep their doors closed to the public because they will not really make any money if they open up. If they do open up, they have an entirely new series of rules in place in order to prevent further spread of the disease. One such rule being that there is a limited capacity rule in place which results in less seats being sold out.
Theaters have had no choice but to remain closed because of the lack of new movies and movies haven’t released because theaters have had their doors shut. This cycle isn’t helpful to anybody, but it is one that has been forced to happen due to the virus and the rate that it spreads. This somewhat broke the cycle because it straight up meant that they would have nothing to show. This would appear to be an issue moving forward, but it seems AMC doesn’t really care and they are going to reopen some time in mid-August. This is an issue because of the aforementioned reason that they will have nothing to show.
The other method of movie release is the immediate release of movies via a digital platform. Any movie that was supposed to have released already has pretty much had its release date moved to a later date, but there are some that have been released in the same above mentioned platform of a digital release. This has brought a lot to light as studios are only really willing to release films straight to digital that they weren’t really expecting much out of if they released in theaters. That being said, some movies might just benefit better from releasing on digital than waiting for a theatrical release. One of those movies that people have been hoping would just release straight to Disney+ already is ‘New Mutants.’
‘New Mutants’ is the last film that was being worked on by 20th Century Fox before the studio was acquired by Disney. The issue with that was the obvious fact that the two universes they were trying to establish separately clashed head-on and we were left having to wait for the film due to reshoots. After they finally had a finished product of the film, the pandemic hit and they had to push the release from April to August and even this does not seem likely at this point. So then why won’t they just release the movie to digital, because it is unlikely they will get the returns that they want from it. The answer to this is that there is a contractual obligation involved with the creation of the movie. Director Josh Boone revealed recently that they MUST show the movie in theaters before they are allowed to launch it on a streaming service. It may be a while before we get to see the film.
By George Robbins
For many gamers, there is one series that had permeated the industry for many years due to the number of niche mechanics and the gameplay style. This series would be the ‘Metal Gear‘ series of video games which has become world-renowned due to the aforementioned reasons and it has gathered a dedicated player base over the years. The mind behind all of the games that were released in this series was Hideo Kojima who is now regarded highly for his works. His most recent game, ‘Death Stranding,’ was well-regarded by a niche groups of players for its mechanics, but the story is difficult for some people to follow. Kojima has been known for his games also having complex plots in addition to the complex yet interesting mechanics he puts in his games.
Due to a series of conflicts with Konami, the company he worked for, he was forced to leave the company and this is when he went on to found his own company. Unfortunately, when he was ousted by the company he was forced to leave the ‘Metal Gear’ franchise to Konami because they owned the rights to it. This is how that series has almost effectively ended, but not before one last game was put out, even if it was unfinished. The latest big entry to the series was ‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,’ which was very well sold but it was noticed almost immediately by fans to be incomplete. This, as mentioned above, is due to Kojima no longer being a part of the company that owns the title.
Although the most recent entry to the series was well regarded, there was a feeling of melancholy due to the fact we would never really experience the true ending of the game. That being said, it is a very popular game series that stretches back over 30 years at this point and this is what makes what is said next so interesting. When a game series becomes popular enough, there is usually a studio somewhere that will want to make money by turning it into a movie somehow. Despite the popularity of the series, ‘Metal Gear’ has yet to receive any kind of treatment for a film version. Even if they did, what would the story even end up being and who would get to play the role of one of the series’ most important characters, Solid Snake.
Kojima has said recently that he believes Luca Marinelli, who recently starred in the film ‘The Old Guard,’ would be a perfect fit for the character. In Kojima’s own words: “Luca Marinelli recently caught my eye after watching ‘The Old Guard’ and ‘Martin Eden.’ He played an impressive villain in ‘They Call Me Jeeg Robot’, but I think that he will break out soon, and his popularity will increase. Also, I think if he donned a bandana [sic], he’d be a spitting image of Solid Snake!” This just goes to show that Kojima might just be onboard if his series that he created would eventually become a motion picture. The likelihood of this is slim given how the rights for the series are all messed up, but it does and will make many fans hopeful for the day it could happen.
By George Robbins
Not to anyone’s surprise, many conventions are being cancelled left and right due to the fact there is an ongoing pandemic. Every day we hear about another future convention being cancelled for the year due to the pandemic and then we hear about it coming back next year. In the case of the Star Wars Celebration convention, they will not be making a comeback until August of 2022 which is even more disappointing but understandable. For any new kind of disease, there is a period of about 18 months or so before a working vaccine is developed and we are only going on 4 and 1/2 since the announcement of the pandemic. This means that they are still a ways off from a proper vaccine for the virus and this puts next summer into the window that a vaccine won’t be available for.
This unlikelihood has made some weary of whether large-scale gatherings like conventions will even be able to return within the next year. Movie releases are one thing as theaters are preparing to have lower numbers of tickets sold, but conventions thrive off of the sheer number of those attending. This is why conventions end up cancelled and they reschedule for either next year, or to be safe, the following year. As time moves on this becomes more and more apparent to the companies hosting the convention and it is becoming apparent to all of the fans who end up attending these conventions. That being said, some conventions have tried making up for their lack of in-person content by hosting an online version such as this past weekend’s Comic Con @ Home.
The most recent convention to join the cast of cancelled conventions this year is Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago. The convention, while not being the biggest of all of the Comic Cons is a live event that normally draws in thousands of participants every year. Obviously this fact is the reason why the convention had to be cancelled for this summer. Well, that plus a number of reasons mentioned earlier such as the lack of funds that comes from a reduced capacity convention. Without a large number of people coming to the convention, vendors also won’t have very many people to peddle their wares to at the convention hall. Wizard World Chicago Comic Con is one of the biggest conventions of the year and it will most certainly be missed this year.
Owned by Wizard Entertainment, this upcoming convention would have been one of many that they usually try and host every year. Wizard Entertainment is very much invested in their convention side of things and without any of the conventions they normally hold, they are in a bit of a sticky situation this year. They have other things that keep their company going, such as certain branded products, but it will most certainly affect the bottom line in some way if they can’t hold any of the usual thirteen annual conventions. This is a shame for both fans of the conventions and the convention holders themselves, but at this point it is the safest thing to do. The Wizard World Chicago Comic Con is being planned to return in June of 2021.
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